


Thump in the Night

by Zalakbian



Series: A Delicate Crimson Flower [1]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: (It doesn't really come up but I always headcanon Mari is trans), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And Edelgard is a disaster, F/F, Implied Sexual Content, Reunion Sex, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, byleth is oblivious, trans!marianne
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:47:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22952038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zalakbian/pseuds/Zalakbian
Summary: Hilda joins the Imperial Army after the Alliance is defeated. Marianne is naturally happy, but their reunion spells trouble for Edelgard, who has her own romantic troubles to work out.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth, Marianne von Edmund/Hilda Valentine Goneril
Series: A Delicate Crimson Flower [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1865899
Comments: 6
Kudos: 104





	Thump in the Night

**Author's Note:**

> This fic comes to you courtesy of Nezanie, in the official MariHilda discord server "Cotton Candy", run by my good friend April (brookynapple on AO3)
> 
> If you like this, please consider joining to talk about it on the [Edeleth Discord Server](https://discord.gg/m2AVbJ3) I run! You can also [follow me on Twitter!](https://twitter.com/MariMari07_01)

The end of the fighting in Derdriu was a breather for everyone in the Black Eagle Strike Force. Hours of grueling, grinding battle against the Alliance forces, which only got more complicated when the Almyrans showed up to participate. Still, to the Professor, this gave them an opportunity.

“Their ships have given us a direct path to the docks, and thus Claude.” She surmised, advising Edelgard to turn their army away from the city gates and onto the awaiting galleons.

The Emperor gritted her teeth, fighting the Almyrans would be a tough prospect, but doing so would keep the fighting away from the city, sparing the civilians and Alliance soldiers inside, which she hoped would help her cause for unifying Fódlan.

“Very well, all Strike Force members, your new target… is the Almyran Army!”

Grinding through the docked vessels went smoother than expected, though Petra and Bernadetta had their work cut out for them, sniping as many of the Almyran wyvern knights as possible while Edelgard and Byleth led the charge. Sooner than any had expected they had reached the docks where Claude was encamped, Byleth’s idea had worked out, and now she and the Emperor proceeded to duel with the Alliance Duke while the rest of the Strike Force kept the Alliance forces locked within the city.

“I gotta say, Teach, I’m a little disappointed,” Claude remarked, twirling in air as he prepared to fire another arrow. “You won’t fight me one on one, gotta have your girlfriend alongside you?”

Edelgard sighed as she blocked the arrow from Failnaught with her shield, while Byleth remained as stoic and unmoved as she extended the Sword of the Creator to strike at Claude.

“Really, Claude, your juvenile attempts to rile us up are quite unneeded,” The Emperor claimed, throwing a tomahawk which the Wyvern master barely dodged, just grazing his thigh. “The whole point of this conflict is to show that we’re stronger together, we stand and fight as one, that is how we prevail.”

As if planned to demonstrate her point, Byleth managed to get the Sword of the Creator locked around the Wyvern’s legs, and then began to shout as she began pulling her down with all her might. Claude tried to keep his balance, and fly up, but Alene was already tired from the long battle, and so he felt his altitude begin to drop, quickly readying another arrow into Failnaught in order to attack the anchor.

But this is where the schemer faltered, as he didn’t expect to get low enough for Edelgard to run up, leap into the air and strike across his torso with Aymr. Claude noticed the attack at the last possible moment and tried to block the axe with his bow, but this only hampered the inevitable. The Emperor’s cleave split the relic in half and left a horrid wound on Claude’s chest, the rest of Edelgard’s momentum knocking the duke from his wyvern and leaving them both on the ground, where she held a dagger to his throat, their eyes mortally locked.

Claude chuckled a bit, then submitted, “Enough! You've bested me.”

But that wasn’t the last the two would see of him. Claude came by one last time to offer his congratulations and good luck for their upcoming campaign, along with a plea to treat his former classmates well.

“Of course, three of them are already in my army you know, any who wish to join will receive equivalent commissions and be treated no differently.” That was enough for Claude, who got back on Alene and flew off, leaving the two women to muse about how different his plans really were from theirs.

That is, at least until a certain blue haired knight came riding up to them and dismounted.

“P-professor! Edelgard! Was that Claude? I-I wanted to ask if he knew where Hilda was? I know she was fighting here… I hope she’s ok…”

Marianne looked incredibly worried, which added to Edelgard’s dilemma, the quiet noble was like a long lost sister to her, and she knew Marianne admired her greatly for her plans to destroy the status of Crests and nobility. So, if she was responsible for any heartbreak Marianne suffered Edelgard knew it would deeply affect her as well. Luckily, Byleth quickly put all their worries to rest, tapping on Marianne’s shoulder and pointing out a very pink looking figure running towards her.

The pink and blue women called out each other’s names as they closed the distance, Hilda leaping into Marianne’s arms, who held her up and spun around once before letting the shorter woman to the ground.

“Hilda… I was so worried-”

“I missed you so much-”

“Are you ok?”

“I’m fine, Mari, especially since I’ve got you now.”

Unable to contain themselves anymore, the two hugged close and locked lips, making out right in front of the Emperor and Professor, the former of which quickly turning away from embarrassment, about to walk away and give the two some privacy but first having to drag the Professor along with her, to keep her from staring further.

The two Golden Deer were practically inseparable all the way back to Garreg Mach, riding together on Dorte, sharing the same tent, and eating their meals together, a cute sight for everyone, bar one. Edelgard was certainly happy that Marianne had her love back after five long years, but seeing the two so happy and rekindling their romance again left her feeling just a bit jealous, and desperately wanting the same with her beloved Byleth.

“Just confess to her already!” Dorothea begged her friend, noticing Edelgard’s eyes darting between the two lovebird’s kissing, and Byleth enjoying her fifth helping of roasted fish. But she couldn’t, because she was the Emperor, and they were at war, and she needed to keep her mind free of distractions… even if doing so was keeping her perpetually distracted.

On Edelgard’s first night back at the monastery she quickly shut herself up in her room, glad to finally have some privacy, and have time to collect her thoughts. It was a relaxing afternoon, she continued work on her secret portrait of Byleth, did some reading, enjoyed a hot dish of saghert and cream that Hubert brought her, and then removed her crown and buns to get some much needed rest on her bed.

That is, until a strange noise woke Edelgard up in the middle of the night.

At first she thought it might have been an earthquake, as she could feel subtle vibrations echoing throughout the room, but then after tuning in more, she began to hear something else, people talking? Edelgard quietly slipped out of bed and tried to trace the source, as it was certainly not coming from her room, but instead… next door?

_Who’s using the room next to mind?_

Hubert was to the left of her, but this was the room on her other border, and she knew it hadn’t been used since the war started…

Oh.

Because it was Hilda’s room.

Edelgard immediately ran back inside her quarters and slammed the door shut behind her, the realization of what was going on becoming far too apparent to ignore. “It’s ok… they’ll be finished soon, and then I can go back to a peaceful sleep…” Edelgard muttered to herself, lying in bed with pillows sandwiching her ears, which blocked the sound, but not the echoing shakes the two women’s ‘fun’ was creating.

After two hours Edelgard gave up trying to ignore or wait for the two women to stop, choosing instead to get dressed and head to her office where she could at least do some work instead of wasting her time.

Everyone noticed the Emperor looking absolutely bag eyed in the morning, Hubert concerningly preparing a third espresso for her to stay awake. Byleth sat next to her, trying to ascertain what was wrong, but all Edelgard would say is, “I couldn’t sleep.” And nothing else. She tried to go to sleep early that night in order to catch on what she had missed, but it was not to be.

_Thump, thump, thump…_

Edelgard was again woken up by the sounds of plowing from Hilda’s room, and she was ready to scream. She banged her fist on the wall and shouted, “I am trying to sleep!” But this did nothing, in fact Edelgard could swear the noises and vibrations only got stronger afterwards, and she flopped back down on her pillow and finally screamed bloody murder.

Second, third, after the fourth night of this and with little to no sleep, Edelgard decided to confront her friend. She pulled aside a Marianne that had the same bagged eyes as her at breakfast and whispered very strongly to her, “Marianne, my dearling sister... you really need to get more sleep at night!”

The blue haired women just slowly blinked at her, muttering back a soft, “whuh?” The Emperor grabbed both her shoulders and looked deep into her chocolate eyes.

“Please Marianne, I need sleep and so do you~”

And then Hilda pulled Edelgard aside, wrapping a protective arm around her girlfriend.

“Don’t worry Edelgard, I’m taking good care of Mari, you don’t need to worry at all!”

Defeated, and unable to openly accuse them of what they were assuredly doing, Edelgard returned to her breakfast, hoping that at least Marianne would take her words to heart. That night, Edelgard didn’t even try to sleep until she was sure the two women were going to play fair, instead just lying in her bed and reading her book until a sufficient time had passed to call it safe.

_Thump, thump, thump…_

And of course they weren’t going to play fair.

Feeling like she was going to explode, Edelgard snapped her book shut and left her room, walking down the hall and stairs, and all the way to the Professor’s room, knocking on the oak door.

“Hmm… Edelgard?” Byleth answered, rubbing her eyes, “It’s late, shouldn’t-”

“My teacher!” The Emperor interrupted, her breathing tense. “C-can I please sex in here- I mean can I please sleep in here?!”

Byleth blinked a few times and stepped aside to let her friend in, closing the door behind her as Edelgard collapsed into bed. “El, what’s wrong?” The Professor asked her, sitting down next to the bed and gently rubbing the top of her friend’s head.

_El… she called me by that name… maybe I should…_

“I’m… love you… Professor…” Edelgard weakly mumbled out before the overwhelming urge to sleep claimed her.

Byleth smiled, making sure Edelgard was snug and secure in her bed before climbing in behind her and pulling the blanket over them both. “I love you too, El.” She whispered, kissing the back of her neck and tenderly spooning her as they both slept.

The next morning Hubert could be seen roaming the academy, asking if anyone had seen Lady Edelgard.

“That’s funny, I haven’t seen the Professor all morning either.” Dorothea remarked to him, softly chuckling as the dark man groaned and walked off. Hilda and Marianne noticed the two’s eventual late appearance around noon together as they were having lunch, both women quickly sporting devilish grins as they noticed the two were now openly holding each other’s hand.

“Mari, your scheme worked!” Hilda squealed, to which Marianne giggled.

“What scheme? I just wanted my girlfriend to ride me all night long.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a shorty I felt like writing, finally I write a one-shot that STAYS a one-shot.


End file.
